The implicit association between odors and illness.
Some individuals ascribe health symptoms to odor exposures, even when none would be expected based on toxicological dose-effect relationships. In these situations, symptoms are believed to have been mediated by beliefs regarding the potential health effects from odorants, which implies a controlled type of information processing. From an evolutionary perspective, such a form of processing may hardly be the only route. The aim of the present study was to explore the viability of a fast and implicit route, by investigating automatic odor-related associations in the context of health. An Implicit Association Test assessing association strengths between the concept odor and the concepts healthy and sick was conducted. Three experiments (N=66, N=64, and N=64) showed a significantly stronger association between the concepts odor and sick than between odor and healthy. These results did not match explicit associations and provide evidence for a fast and automatic route of processing that may complement consciously controlled processes. A dual-processing theory of olfactory information is proposed leading to new hypotheses regarding the development and maintenance of odor-induced health symptoms.
Bulsing
Patricia J
PJ
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, PO Box 80140, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands. p.bulsing@uu.nl
Smeets
Monique A M
MA
Van den Hout
Marcel A
MA
D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D018876:Environmental Illness / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult